Dice Delve: Double Six, Triple Four

A lot of people re-invent the wheel, and just as many will occasionally pretend the wheel is broken so they can "fix it." I've seen a lot of game aids over the years designed to correct a problem that I never in my life saw as being an issue; the hobby's equivalent to the Slap Chop.

Not all innovations are bad, you know. We all hate how D4 dice don't roll, are hard to fish out of the tackle box, and become weaponized when they fall on the floor. And yet, there isn't anything we can do about it, is there? Well, is there? 

Don't be so silly. Of course there is!

Behold! Interesting d12!

12-sided D6 and D4 dice from DoubleSix

SCORE : 5/5

This was yet another Kickstarter campaign (aren’t they all?) by a guy named Matt Fleming that caught my eye because these used to exist elsewhere in time and space, but due to the ephemeral nature of tabletop gaming, are long gone, along with ColecoVision and Diet Pepsi with Lemon. Is there a place for them on the modern gaming table? Overall, I’d say yes, there is. 

Clarity   Yes
Heft       Yes

Color     Yes

Theme   Yes

Value     Yes

Simple and effective design. You can't mess up pips.

The Good: These dice are built on the simple premise of numbering 1 to 6 twice on a d12 die. It may not seem like a big deal, but it absolutely is when you make the number range 1 to 4 instead (triplefours). Now you have d4 dice that don’t double as caltrops. That’s frankly awesome. Also, the designs used on these d4 dice are both evocative and very easy to read. Matt even made Fudge and Fate dice (doublefudge),  thanks to his Kickstarter stretch goals, with the same easy-to-read results, and in a wide array of colors. The plastic used in these dice is just over the line in acceptable heft.

Those symbols are on the Triplefour dice. Snazzy!

The Bad: Okay, granted, having usable d12 dice that are available in three different integer styles can get a little confusing, and maybe even overwhelming.  That’s a lot of dodecahedrons rolling around, and they do, in fact, roll. You can’t put the same amount of English on these dice as you would a d4 or a d6, or these things’ll ricochet off the game table like Buckaroo Banzai’s Jet Car. Granted, that’s not an insurmountable problem, but be advised, Lead-Fist McGee.

The Ugly: Right now, these things are hard to find and only seem to be available from the doublesix website, in limited colors. Matt was looking at manufacturing another batch, but I don’t know where he is on that. And these dice, while very cool, aren’t something you need a lot of. Collectors and anyone playing d6-heavy games like GURPS or HERO or Traveller will find these to be quite useful. But it’s not something you can build a theme around.

I can't remember what this style is called, but here are
all four d4 sides on two different-colored Triplefours.

Recommendation: If you love weird dice, you need at least six of these doohickeys. You could go as high as twelve, which would only be appropriate for a couple of games I can think of, but a minimum of three to six dice is recommended if you think these are cool. I’ve rolled up several characters with my doublesix dice and as character builders, they are impressive and fun. I can’t say enough nice things about the fudge dice and the triplefours, either. Let’s hope these go back into production soon.

See all those pretty colors? Yeah, you can't have them. The website has a very limited number of colors available.